


Fifth Time's the Charm

by queen_scribbles



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 11:25:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16554872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: @pillarspromptsweekly fill #61: Creating. Y’all get a 3-for-1(sort of), wrapped iin Ederity + Tavi shenanigans. Enjoy! :D





	Fifth Time's the Charm

**Author's Note:**

> @pillarspromptsweekly fill #61: Creating. Y’all get a 3-for-1(sort of), wrapped iin Ederity + Tavi shenanigans. Enjoy! :D

 

She was, Charity admitted to herself, perhaps a little rusty. Of course, the practice shield and wooden sword she was wielding weren’t helping. The balance was different for both and she was far more comfortable with a mace than a blade. She’d been trying to lower the odds of hurting Edér, but if the bastard sent her one more cheeky grin after sitting her on her ass, she was going to stop caring about hurting him. The butterflies summoned by the phrase  _‘future husband’_ only carried so far.

“One more,” she demanded, pushing to her feet. She swiped dust off her clothes and tucked yet more loose hair behind her ears. At this rate, her bun was going to be a lost cause very shortly.

“That’s what you said three matches ago,” Edér pointed out with a breathless laugh. He wiped sweat off his forehead with the back of one hand. “If we want time to clean up before Tavi gets here we’re gonna need to stop soon.”

“I hear ya,” Charity said. She crossed to the barrel full of practice weapons and fished out one closer to what she was used to. “One. More.”

“Fifth time’s the charm?” he teased.

“Hopefully,” she shot back, gripping her new weapon. It was still closer to a sword than a mace, but shorter and broader than what she’d had before.  “Persistence is something we’re known for.”

He just grinned wider in response--ignoring the low-hanging fruit comparing _persistence_ to _stubbornness_ \--and the two of them started circling for yet another match.

 _This already feels better,_ Charity thought to herself, appreciating the weight of the weapon in her hand.

As she’d expected, this match went much better for her. Apparently, fifth time _was_ the charm. Even with both of them worn down, it was still a good fight. Good enough to have sweat running in her eyes and make it surprising they didn’t have an audience when she deflected a blow and took advantage of Edér being off-balance to hook her foot behind his ankle and tug.

He went down hard, flat on his back. Charity heard the _oof_ of the wind being knocked out of him, and then, a few seconds later, a low, still-breathless chuckle. “Good job.”

“Thanks,” she managed, breathing hard herself. She playfully lowered her practice blade to point at his head. “Toldja I’d get you. Just took some persistence.”

“Yep.” Edér smirked and wrapped one hand around the end of the wooden blade. He gave it a sharp yank, pulling her off-balance so she tumbled down on top of him. Once she’d huffed in indignation--”Edér!”--and pushed herself partway up, he kissed the tip of her nose and whispered, “You got me, alright.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Charity whispered back fondly, rolling her eyes even as she smiled and ran her fingers through his hair, dislodging a small cloud of dust. _It’s why I love you._

Edér half-shrugged, resting his weight on his elbows as he grinned at her. “Yeah, but you like me this way, darlin’. So why would I change?”

“Mm, I’ll have to whip your tail more often; it turns makes you a real sweet talker,” she teased, leaning her forehead against his.

He gave a quiet chuckled, one of the ones that _did things_ to her. “Don’t gotta whip my tail for that, darlin’,” he murmured, breath warm against her flushed skin. “All you gotta do’s _ask_.”

Neither of them were sure who started the kiss, but it felt inevitable, really. Inevitable and _hungry_ , fueled by the still-pounding adrenaline of their match. Edér’s beard tickled, as usual, making Charity think the laughter ringing in her ears was her own.

Until it was followed by the distinctive slap of hands against wood and a familiar voice triumphantly crowing, “ _Fuckin’ **FINALLY**_.”

<><><><><>

Of all the things the gods could have chosen as a reward for her early start today, Tavi was pretty sure this took the cake. No, scratch that, Charity’s face being the same shade of red as her hair when she and Edér jerked apart and stared toward the source of their interruption. _That_ took the fucking cake. _Oh, **thank you** , Hylea._

<><><><><>

From the look of Tavi’s shit-eating grin, this was going to be a fun afternoon.

Charity smiled back at the grinning elf. “Hey, Tavi.” She cleared her throat and tucked more hair back behind her ears, painfully aware of how disheveled both she and Edér looked. “You’re, um... You’re early.”

“An’ I might apologize for that, but as of about ten seconds ago I ain’t all that sorry,” Tavi replied, still grinning. “But I’ll be nice an’ save the interrogation for when you two’ve have the chance to fuckin’ clean up.” Her grin somehow got wider. “Wouldn’t want a scandal, would we, Mayor Teylecg?”

“What, man can’t kiss his fiancee anymore?” Edér shot back, winking at Charity and making no move to escape their admittedly compromising position.

<><><><><>

 _Fiancee._ Tavi nearly slipped off the fence rail she was standing on. _Sweet Hylea’s blazin’ feathered **tits** that worked better than I fuckin’ dreamed._ “Yeah, I’m definitely gonna want the whole story,” she finally said, eyes narrowing at Edér’s own shit-eating grin.

“You’ll get it,” Charity promised. She rolled off Edér and pushed to her feet before offering him a hand up as well. “You wanna come back to my place with me? You can get settled in while I get cleaned up.”

Tavi cocked her head and frowned as she stepped off the fence rail. “I was just gonna stay at the Dracogen again...”

Charity waved off the protests as she tugged out her ruined bun and fixed it into a ponytail. “That’s silly, when I have an extra room at my house.” She paused for a moment, considering. “ ‘Long as you don’t mind a needy and affectionate calico possibly walking on you while you sleep.” She laughed. “She _usually_ reserves that for me, but she likes you well enough she might do it for you, too.”

“I’ll risk it,” Tavi laughed. Why pay for a room if she didn’t have to? “Maybe I’ll start workin’ on dinner while I’m at it.”

“Oh, no, that’s his responsibility tonight,” Charity laughed, jerking a thumb towards Edér.

“Only ‘cause you cheated,” he grumbled good-naturedly, dusting dirt out of his hair..

Charity smirked again, fondly this time, and Tavi was suddenly torn between cheering(because her plan had worked) and feeling like she was intruding (because her plan had _worked_ ). “There’s absolutely nothing in the rules of arm wrestling that says you can’t kiss your opponent as a distraction. How else was I gonna win? You’re just jealous you didn’t think of it first.”

“Got me there,” Edér admitted easily. “I’ll see you ladies in a bit?”

 _This is gonna be a fun visit,_ Tavi smirked to herself. “Lookin’ forward to it.” She cheered again--at least internally--when Charity stole another kiss before ducking through the fence to lead the way back to her house.

<><><><><>

“So, guess you two had that talk you needed, huh?” Tavi could hear the amusement in her voice and didn’t even bother to hide it.

“Yep,” Charity replied, followed by a soft splash.

Tavi twisted around and craned her neck, peeking through the cut out between the two rooms.

As she suspected, the redhead had ducked beneath the surface of the bathtub. She smirked slightly and turned back to the stelgaer she was whittling, until she heard Charity resurface. She waited a beat to let the other woman catch her breath before asking her single most burning question. “When?”

There were scattered dripping sounds water rippling, and then Charity’s reply. “Not long after we got back from Caed Nua, so... a month ago? Give or take?”

 _A fuckin’ month_. Tavi smiled to herself as she carved one of the stelgaer’s ears. “No wonder you were so casual with the affection.”

There was a loud slosh and Charity muttered a curse under her breath. “Gotta clean that up now... Actually, if I’m honest, I’m still pretty shy about doing anything too blatant in public. We didn’t think we had an _audience_.”

“An’ I’m still not sorry,” Tavi shot back, smile even wider(she was pretty sure it was gonna stick around through the night, at least). “But enough about that. I’ll pry more when I’ve got both of ya.” She shucked out the filler between the stelgaer’s hind legs. “How many tries did it take you to beat him?”

Charity chuckled, followed by the sound of her very carefully climbing out of the tub. “Five today. But I’ve been trying for a couple weeks.” She snorted, the sound muffled as she dried her hair. “Doesn’t help that I’m rusty. But playin’ farmer for almost a year now. I like it, but it has dulled the edge, y’know?”

“I do,” Tavi nodded. “Part of why I make sure to train every fuckin’ day is bein’ afraid I’ll lose that edge.” She set down the stelgaer and crackled her knuckles. “‘Course, to a point it’s good I’m not as paranoid as I used to be, I guess.”

“Yeah, being able to trust people is a good thing,” Charity teased. She looped around from kitchen to dining room, fingers twining wet hair into a braid as she sat next to Tavi as the table.

“I know, I know.” Tavi rolled her eyes and ran one thumb down the stelgaer’s back. “For a while though, I _couldn’t_ trust fuckin’ anyone. This way is much better.” She was still _wary_ , of course, but her mysterious hunters hadn’t tried much since her return from Sun in Shadow. _Well, except that one time._ “Gettin’ back to happier topics, any idea what Edér’s makin’ for dinner?”

“Nope.” Charity played with her braid. “I know he went huntin’ yesterday and got a deer, so something involving venison is likely.”

“Fine by me,” Tavi said. Really anything he cooked would be fine. She was hungry, he was a damn good cook, and even more than that, she’d probably be too busy asking them questions to actually taste her food. 

But for the moment, she returned her attention to carving the stelgaer as she and Charity made small talk. The redhead briefly excused herself to go get her current knitting project and then the two of them quite happily passed the time until Edér showed up to start working on dinner.

<><><><><>

It wasn’t until Edér was walking through her front door that Charity remembered her kitchen was still a mess from her taking a bath. She’d gotten so caught up talking to Tavi it completely slipped her mind.

“Wait!” she gasped, pushing back from the table and dropping her knitting. “Wait out here, I have to clean up!”

Edér chuckled and followed her into the kitchen anyway. “I’m not afraid of a little mess, Char. I’d rather help ya get it out of the way.” He set the bag he was carrying down on the counter. “It’ll go faster with two. And”--here his voice dropped to a whisper--”I wanted to ask you somethin’ b’fore Tavi starts in with the pryin’.”

Charity would have giggled, if not for the seriousness of his expression. “So ask.”

“How much detail do we wanna give her about how _pretending_ to court turned into really courtin’? Some of that stuff ain’t ‘xactly public knowledge.”

She knew what he meant. “Long as she’d be alright with the Readceran thing, I don’t care. We can spill our blazing guts.”

Edér chuckled as he helped her move the tub. “Considerin’ she’s still tryin’ to get the last Readceran we bumped into t’ be her friend, I think you’re safe.”

“Then we can go into as much detail as you want,” Charity said. She and Tavi were friends, no point in keeping secrets. Plus, her reaction might be fun.

Between the two of them, she and Edér got all the water cleaned up in short order. He then promptly shooed her out so he could cook. “i’m s’pposed to be handlin’ this, an’ you got company. Go talk to her some more.”

“Can’t believe you’re throwin’ me out of my own kitchen,” Charity complained good-naturedly. But she did as ordered. Only to discover her hasty exit had mangled the current row of her knitting. “Dammit.”

“Least that’s more forgiving than mine,” Tavi said with a wry laugh. She held up the stelgaer she’d been carving, exhibiting the almost comically exaggerated mess of its facial features.

“Wow,” Charity laughed.

Tavi shrugged. “It’s only my second time carvin’ a stelgaer. Animals usually take about five tries to get perfect.” She nodded at Charity’s mangled knitting. “You can backtrack an’ fix just that part. I would have to start all over, which I don’t feel like doing.” She pushed aside both the figurine and the mess of wood shavings. “So I’ll just watch you.”

Charity chuckled as she unraveled the problem row to fix it. “No pressure or anything, right?”

“No, none at all. I dunno shit about knitting, so I can’t judge.” Tavi propped her chin on her hands. “Whatcha makin’, anyway?”

Charity darted a glance toward the kitchen to make sure Edér was busy before lowering her voice to reply. “A sweater.”

“But it’s only Mid Spring,” Tavi said, brow scrunching in confusion. “And just barely at that.”

“It’s gonna take awhile, seein’ as I can only work on it when he’s”--a nod toward the kitchen--”not around. Hopefully, startin’ it now I can be finished by the time it gets cold.” She snorted. “‘Course, he runs hot as Abydon’s forge, so he probably won’t _need_ it, but...”

“Oh, c’mon,” Tavi said with an encouraging smile, “this is the man you told me has worn _everything else_ you’ve made him, even when _you_ had reservations about the quality. Even if he doesn’t fuckin’ need it, he’ll love it and wear it b’cause _you_ fuckin’ made it for him. So, are you gonna make it all that pretty orange or...?”

Charity smiled and took the hint, tugging at the dark orange yarn to free more up as she went. “Pretty much all this. Maybe two narrow white stripes up high on the chest.” She tapped maybe an inch or two below her collarbone to illustrate. She wasn’t going to explain _why_ , though. Not until she’d given Edér the finished product and explained the significance of certain patterns in Ixamitl culture.

<><><><><>

Tavi cocked her head, picturing what it would look like. “Oooh, that’ll look nice.” She fell silent, watching the slow but (mostly) confident movement of Charity’s hands. “You’ve gotten really good.”

“Thanks.” Charity flashed a smile, paused to double check her stitch count. “You want me to teach you? It’s pretty damn useful.”

“I...” It _did_ look useful, and it was always good to learn new skills, right? “I’ll think about it.”

“Alright,” Charity nodded. “Just let me know.”

Their conversation remained on the trivial, surface topics until Edér finished dinner. It smelled delectable, so cleaning and setting the table was done with due haste. Charity had been right; it was venison In a stew with the meat cooked to falling-apart, potatoes, lentils, carrots, and broth so good Tavi was half convinced she would’ve killed a man over it.

It was only after they started eating that she began to pry.

<><><><><>

“How far back d’you wanna go?” Edér asked, nudging Charity’s foot under the table.

“Well, me an’ Charity talked a little when you two visited Caed Nua.” Tavi shrugged. “Y’know, the cave in. So, I guess everything after that.”

They obliged. Told her _everything_ \--Charity’s revelation, the stelgaer fight and its aftermath, everything. And she listened, quiet for the longest stretch Charity had ever seen, with a slowly growing grin of someone who just watched a wish come true.

“So,” she began, once they’d finished, “if you’re engaged now, when’s the weddin’?”

Charity looked over at Edér, found him looking at _her_. They both looked back at Tavi, shrugged, and in unison admitted, “Not sure yet.”

“Prob’ly toward the end of summer,” Charity added. “But we haven’t decided.”

“Well, you need to get that set or it’ll take for-fuckin’-ever to do everything else.”

“So you’re a weddin’ expert, huh, Tav?” Edér teased.

Tavi rolled her eyes. “Not an expert, but my mom was a fuckin’ florist, Teylecg, I know _some_ shit.”

“She has a point, darling,” Charity said with a laugh. “Regarding both things. But primarily that we need a date before we can do anything else.”

“Well, then, we’ll hafta get on that, won’t we?” He pushed back from the table, eyes twinkling with amusement, and picked up their empty bowls as he stood.  “For now let’s focus on clean up.”

<><><><><>

Tavi tried to help. She really did. Edér and Charity both shooed her off with some bullshit about being the guest. So instead she retreated to the living room--after a detour to set a fresh block of wood from her bag--and perched cross-legged on the couch. Sparrow was mollified with a few minutes’ attention before curling up next to her, and Tavi settled in to whittle and listen to the low, comfortable chatter coming from the kitchen. She smiled to herself as she started working on another stelgaer, _I can’t believe that worked. I actually didit._

 

**Author's Note:**

> So yes. Yes this is self-indulgent as the day is long. I don’t care. It was super fun to write, especially when I realized how much creating I could get in using these three.(Edér cooks, Tavi whittles, Charity knits :D)
> 
> (and also yes, that last line is shout out to the Lindsey Lohan Parent Trap, bc Tavi’s internally doing the squealy-wall-slide thing Hallie(? I think it’s Hallie) does at the end)


End file.
